Gratitude for my Yoga Journey by Larissa Santoro
It was Thanksgiving eve. I watch Instagram stories and posts of my family and friends getting ready for the holiday. My mom sends me a text that she just finished baking her apple pie. I think I can almost smell it when I close my eyes…and my heart aches, just a little bit, that I am not home.
But, I am happy. I am grateful.
It has been 8 months since I became a certified yoga instructor with Evolation Yoga. Completing my training in beautiful Hawaii, which I didn’t fully realize at the time, was a complete life changing experience for me. I didn’t know what my year would look like. Would I go home and move back to NYC and get another 9-5 agency job? Which let’s be real is more like a 9-7 agency job… would I stay in CT and take a different path? I had no idea what to expect and somehow, here I am…
Back in the yoga bubble, this time at a training in sunny Santa Barbara. I can hear the trainees in teaching clinic in the other room and it’s a surreal feeling to be here, as a teacher.
Eight months lived and I am wiser. I am happier. I am more myself than I’ve ever felt, and sure, there are hard days where I think ‘what am I doing??’ and self-doubt knocks on my door, but I am so grateful to be a part of this community and on this journey.
When you train with Evolation Yoga, you join a family.
We train together. We stay connected. Continuously grow and learn together. We go through the good, the bad, the uncertainties of life together and it is a bond that cannot be shaken.
Eight months post training and I am back in the yoga bubble.
In one week I have made new friends, that I know in my heart will turn into old friends.
I received heart-warming hugs from souls I just met.
I have been welcomed into a fellow Evolation yogi’s home for the holidays. No questions asked.
I have taught abroad at an Evolation graduate’s studio.
I have friends and connections all over the world.
I am part of the Evolation family.
I am grateful.